Merlin Entertainments chalks out India strategy for 2023

As one of the world’s largest attraction operators, Merlin Entertainments create and deliver memorable, immersive brand experiences for millions of guests. As Europe’s Number 1 and the world’s second-largest visitor attraction operator, Merlin operates over 140 attractions, 23 hotels and 6-holiday villages in 24 countries and across 4 continents. Merlin’s purpose is to deliver memorable experiences to its millions of guests around the world, through its iconic brands and multiple attraction formats, and the commitment and passion of its employees.

Around the world, leisure spending continues to grow as disposable incomes rise and ever greater value is placed on good quality, shared experiences with friends and family. “We bring brands to life for our millions of guests through continued investment, capturing new market opportunities and maintaining our strong market position as a unique, multi-format international operator of strongly branded and IP-led location-based entertainment,” she said.

Merlin realised the India’s potential early with having a presence in-market since 2019 (pre-pandemic) and has been investing in the market by partnering with the travel trade industry.

Sharing her thoughts further on the Indian market, Shannon said – India is a key strategic market for Merlin Entertainment. With a good mix of the traditional group series traveller and the young and vibrant new age FIT traveller, India has a balanced mix of travellers who fit into everything that Merlin has on offer across the world.

“During the pandemic, we invested a lot into building technology to make the customer journey seamless, which is now being recognised by the Industry and followed by many across the world. For India, we have a long list of plans, starting from the basics of creating India-centric assets (video and imagery) to getting more Indian celebrities launched at Madame Tussauds globally. From having Diwali celebrations at key India-centric attractions with festive decorations etc to creating Indian F&B options across the world. We partner with the National and State Tourism bodies from across the world via their Sales Missions, Training, and webinars to be in touch with travel trade across India. The India MICE segment has bounced back very strongly and we at Merlin understand the needs of the experience-seeking MICE clients and opened the doors of our attractions to be used not only as an attraction but to upgrade the client experience by using us a venue where we can host welcome dinner, meetings, gala dinners etc. India is a big focus market for Merlin and we will stay invested in the market on a long-term basis,” she said